is200 Newbie

As Rayaans above ....more info Has it had a new exhaust?

@ Robb I have found a panel adhesive - Tiger Seal - apparently made for the job? I am waiting for my diffuser to be delivered. Should have been here today but didn't arrive - guess it will be tomorrow? I have my exhaust on and happy with the job done - exhaust tips are due this week. I will more than likely need to widen the exhaust opening on the diffuser but have a question ... with the adhesive you used which I guess it pretty much the same stuff? can I, when I have made the opening wider, mould the edge of the diffuser that lines the exhaust opening with the adhesive and then shape to match the opposite side, can it be sanded down to give a good finish before painting?... or would you know of a filler that could be used to achieve the same effect. I will need to spend a bit of time moulding / sanding it which I don't mind.

..... but is that not a bit of miss-representation as I bought the insurance, their product that they sold to me on their assumption of the cost for cover and with the assumption it would cover any losses should they occur? Don't get me wrong..I get how insurance is needed but not how it is administered. A couple of things come to mind - when you insure your car you put a value of the car in so the policy can be worked out? What's the point in this - if say I put a value of 6k against my car and it was written off tomorrow then surely that's the amount that it should be insured to, (give or take)...? I know this would be hard to administer due to owners valuing their cars over the top but an easy option for the insurers to apply when taking a policy out as there must be a valuation band - lower and upper valuation of the car (bad condition sliding up to excellent condition) If the value of the car goes down every year, which it does, why does the insurance go up? Also, another question is to why do the companies really price you out of their business making you go look for another policy from another company Not connected to car insurance - when we were flooded I had trouble not with the insurance company but the independent loss adjuster who was not a part of the insurance company but contracted to them and I got the impression it was the loss adjuster pulling the strings to keep costs down or inflate the profit for them?

I feel for you Been through this with the insurance a few years back when two of our cars were flooded - a 2007 Clio and a 2004 IS200. The Clio was wifes car, was spotless and only used for the supermarket run around. We had owned it from new and it had only done around 20k miles. Was written off in a flood in 2012. The Lexus was also spotless (for its age), high miles but as we know they are build like a rock and we look after them. We lost the two cars and the house to the flood. Funnily enough, I was more gutted at losing my IS than the house!! We had a rough time with the insurance co all round - the Clio was settled for £3200 and the Lexus was £1800 - both insured with LV. Initial cheques were sent out as I believe the insurers all do, as an offer. I don't know what the real reason for this is? I fought for the values of the cars and got it up a bit, I think it was 2 or 300 £'s for the Clio but they would not budge on the Lex and I was quoted others on web sites that could be bought for the value they gave me but these were not my model which was an LE model, at the time quite hard to find. In our situation we didn't want the extra hassle of fighting this due to everything else going on so gave in and used the two sums to buy another car for my wife which was comparable with what she lost. certainly the insurer gained a profit from us...twice. and then you also lose out when making a claim and to add insult to that you are also penalized when claiming against another driver through no fault of your own. - makes you wonder why bother The insurance industry certainly needs lookin at !!

yes - works fine on burned discs but not original discs

Well chuffed !! As for the sound, I have music through MP3 disc, radio and aux. Radio reception on it is poor, was never like that before (a bit of interference). I want to take the head unit out to check connections, especially the fibre optic connection but I suspect its the bottom part of the unit that's goosed. At £150 to £200 to buy a new (used) one to see if it is that at fault then its an expensive gamble. The reason I think its the unit is that it wont play CD's or DVD's. It plays the video of the DVD but no sound. No sound on CD's either. Both don't have the indication that the volume is going up or down on the screen when the volume button is adjusted. I will get to it when I have finished the exhaust/

I looked at adding a resonator as per the web link - a lot of owners with different cars have done this in the states and it has worked but with mixed results. Different reports on where to add the pipe etc..., there would need to be two on the IS due to the limited space under the body and then the length required to eliminate the drone would mean that the pipe is not straight and would fowl other parts under the body. I read that the pipe needed to be straight to work. It was a while ago, possibly last year when I looked through this and a 26" long pipe requirement seems to ring a bell to get rid of the drone. Adding this to a 2 1/2 inch diameter pipe would mean finding room to add a 2 1/2 inch diameter x 26 inch long pipe x 2 to the exhaust (1 on each side) . There's just no room for that under the pan. 120 miles since installation of this with no issues - my welding wire has come and I need to weld a hanger on and get rid of a small leak which will complete the exhaust apart from the tips and spoiler. It has absolutely definitely got some "oomph" back which was probably lost when the SS exhaust went on (I cant remember what it was like before the SS exhaust went on). Its totally changed the car. Noticeable as when in auto mode I could tell when it was changing gear due to the noise difference of the exhaust... cant hear that now ... the road noise is the loudest thing in the car now (apart from the radio !!) I may have been lucky with this but educated guessing through months of looking around at different options has probably helped. I will be putting almost 1000 miles on it by the end of next week (200 miles this weekend and 500 next week) so after that I will be happy that its working effectively. Will monitor fuel use on the motorway as well so it will be a good run for it.

A long shot - if the tyre was changed at the side of the road then go back to the area just to see if its still lying there at the side of the road?

For the model look at the sticker in the inner driver door area above the door locking catch - This states its an IS 250 SE It looks in good condition like Rayaan has stated but for an SE that's too expensive. Shop around and you will find a good proper SE-L for that money (or less)

It has a rumble when started from cold until the revs settle and a quieter rumble in the low gears up to 20mph then its quiet. I took it for its first good run today going to work in full auto and its like having a new car - no drone or cabin noise - there's a bit of noise but I am listening out for it so its more noticeable to me but what has stood out is the road noise now. I did not used to have that over the noise of the old stainless exhaust !!. Amazed how the change from stainless to mild steel has changed the car completely. Took it along A roads on the way back home from work using the paddles in manual and it feels more responsive and sounds a bit more "grunty" (if thats a word?) with the windows down, but still no cabin noise. The centre resonator I put on was a Lexus 2.0L IS200 one - looking through it it has shaped gauze to, I would imagine, help to deflect the noise, shaped in a twisting motion (4 pieces together). The stainless one I took off was a free flow. I read up about back pressures for the engine and scavenging issues but there was arguments on both sides whether a free flow was a good or bad idea - so went with gut feel !! The Rover box when I split it to reverse the tail pipes only had one piece of mesh in it and with the two tail pipes extending 3 quarters into the box. I was expecting something a bit more elaborate. There are a few ways I read on how to eliminate drone by adding additional resonators before the back boxes to disrupt the flow of air cancelling out the sound waves but its trial and error on what size is required. Not sure what a V6 sounds like raw - going to Liverpool at the end of the month so will give it a go through the tunnel to see what noise it creates.

Cars not lowered - just the angle the picture was taken. Parts used: (as assembled) Pipe adapter (to take the size of existing exhaust up to resonator input) 1 x exhaust clamp (to clamp adapter to existing exhaust) IS200 resonator Pipe adapter (to take the size of resonator out pipe to the 60mm pipe size) 2 x new exhaust hangers (to hold centre section up) 60mm mild steel pipe (x 1 metre of) welded into a y piece to feed both back boxes 2 x 60mm pipe adapters ( so you can easily remove boxes - makes it easier to fit also) 2 x exhaust clamps (to clamp pipe to boxes) 2 x Rover MG ZT boxes 4 x 60mm to 70mm tips (not on yet) 1 x diffuser spoiler (not on yet) What I managed to salvage from old system and Rover boxes: Exhaust hangers x 6 (2 from the old stainless system for the centre hangers and 4 from the Rover boxes that came with hangers) Curved piece of pipe from the Rover back boxes - re-used to form the angle needed to join to the y piece. What I used: Welder (MIG) Metal disc grinder 2 standard car ramps What it cost: Rover boxes @ £40 60mm pipe @ £10 IS200 resonator @ £30 Exhaust tips @ £32 for the 4 of (not got yet) Diffuser spoiler @ £105 from the USA (not got yet) up to you if you want to put on TOTAL without diffuser £112 / with diffuser £217 How long it took: It took me 3 days over 3 weekends to do from start to finish - that was with the parts already to hand. 1 day to sort the reversal of the pipes out on one of the Rover boxes 1 day to "dry fit" the boxes only to make sure they sat in the recess well 1 day to put the parts all together onto car. I expect another day for the tips and for me to finish off with a weld I need to make.and to fit the diffuser Hardest parts / issues: One of the Rover boxes needs cutting and reversing so that the tail pipes are the right way around (when bought they are both left facing - one needs to be right facing) Cutting this / reversing and welding back up was the hardest part but patience is a virtue !!? One weld I have made is leaking - small drip of water when running - will sort this when I get more wire. Not bad considering I am new to welding. Surprisingly - its an easy job if you have the time and patience.

Only considered two tips as the gap in between the tail pipes does not give me a lot of options - Would have been different with the trapezium .... I might look to see whats involved

I wouldn't go that far but I am well chuffed with how it ended up. You haven't seen my welding but to be honest its getting better but not noticeable after grinding the excess metal back !!

Rover back boxes - didn't specifically go for twin boxes but they were the best fit after months of looking for a suitable box - Just over £100 for the centre section and the boxes.... reckon that's saved me almost £3k on new and the cars back to quiet again. Reckon it will also save me money in the future as I have made it in sections so parts can easily be replaced.

Finally got the exhaust on - wife's on nights and kids are out so had time to do this. Took me from 10am to 6pm to get it on after fettling a few pipes. Well impressed at how its turned out - relatively easy to do it if you take your time and get the parts altogether first.. Still need to do a few jobs (I ran out of welding wire !!) so I still have one centre hanger to go on. Exhaust tips to go on, I have found some which take each pipe to 3" and the spoiler is due from the states at the end of next week. The sound is a low burble at low revs and when the engine is cold - when at speed its very quiet. I have got rid of the drone at motorway speeds which I am well impressed with. Below is the pic with the exhaust done (so far) will post another pic when its complete.

yeah .... £45 is expensive ... might take a trip to ASDA as an oil change for me is coming up (is it the right spec?)

A1 to that - also £45 for the oil ... is that London prices? Its usually available here for around £30ish but £20 labour is good.

I had this on the drivers door grab handle - I originally thought it was the door seal but just happened to use the handle one day and found out it re-created the noise. I oiled the hinge with WD40 and the noise has gone away.

The back stainless boxes are fine - just too noisy for me - might put them on ebay and get some money back from them which would probably pay for the new Rover boxes. The rest of the stainless system is only good for pipe work. Wasn't that well made to be honest but its lasted 3 years...

Its just the picture - once they are fixed in properly there's plenty room around them (about an inch each side of the tips) I could not fix them properly to show in the picture

I have managed to spend a bit of time this weekend fettling the exhaust into place and welding the tail piping to fit in the recesses under the car. I am replacing the existing stainless one that's on the car at the moment as I have never been happy with it (too noisy and drones like hell between 2k and 2.5k revs which was a novelty at first but cant live with it now as is). The boxes I have used to replace the existing are two Rover MG ZT 2.5V6 boxes. I have had to flip one output side around and weld back up but am amazed at how well they fit the recess on the car. Exact depth but 4 inches wider and fit very well. I haven't specifically gone for dual boxes, its just the fact that this was the only box I found after searching for ages that would be a good fit for the car. I have welded the boxes up / put the hangers on them and adjusted the inlet pipe - next week I will replace all the other pipes up to the cat and then fit to the car. The resonator I am using is an IS200 one which fits very well. The picture below shows the boxes fitted to the car - only as a trial to see if everything went together and lined up... It did. They are not connected at the moment, I was a bit uncertain as to how the tail pipes looked. The box, once secured will be higher by about an inch into the recess and I plan to place a spoiler over the bumper which is on its way from the USA so this will hide the cut out so I will post another picture once all done ... question is .... Do the exhaust tips look a bit too small for the size of the car (Diameter wise)? I can extend the size to just over 3" for each or I can add exhaust tips which will bring it up to a bigger size. The exhaust in the picture only shows the stock Rover size... The length of the pipes are not set yet as was leaving this until the spoiler arrived to see what length they needed to be with it on. P.S... I fitted these temporarily to the existing tubes and tried it for a few hundred yards - very quiet considering (will be better once the resonator is replaced) it does however, which cannot be heard that much in the car, give a low "growling" sound at low revs which is quite unique. Will know more about how it sounds once all done.

Does anyone else have issues in viewing the how to guides - some have the instruction missing / some have the instruction and images missing and some have the images missing?

3 years ago I was quoted £2700 for the centre and two boxes fitted by Lexus. Don't know what the cost would be now? Issues with fitting the centre section is that the bolts may sheer that attach the centre to the front piece (due to rust) so not an easy job and at the time I was told that the sensors could be a tricky replacement if they were damaged during replacement as they go into the cabin under the drivers seat.. The stainless will be always noisy compared to the OEM but to what extent depends on a few factors .. there are different grades of stainless steel that these manufactures use. The exhaust bore has a big effect and the choice of centre resonator but the biggest one if the fact that stainless does not absorb the sound as mild steel does. The back boxes will be the final factor - theres a balance required through the system. The stainless steel exhaust manufacturer will need to make both the resonator and the back boxes so if you are going down this route make sure they are quality made items as these boxes will be where almost all of the noise and any "drone" will come from . Also - ask the manufacturer to keep the old system just in case you are not happy with the new SS one so it can be put back on if a bad quality. Unfortunately, the only way you can test it would be to have the stainless one fitted and then driven.

As a quick check and to rule it out, have a look at the coolant level in the expansion tank just to make sure it has coolant in it.

Its a gasless welder - can only use it via mains electric. I am using fluxcored 0.9mm fed wire - works for what I am doing. Found pushing the weld along is the easiest way for me after I figured out the feed of the wire. Got the mask and struck it a few times with the shield up while getting used to it but its a learning curve.